Numerous means have been proposed for providing a stratified charge of air-fuel mixture for ease of ignition and burning in the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. Such arrangements have aimed with some success to provide more efficient engine operation, especially under part-load conditions than has been achieved by engines of the homogeneous premixed charge type.
For various reasons however, the performance of stratified charge engines has, in general, been less than ideal. Among the reasons in some cases is the inadequate mixing of air and fuel before ignition caused by relatively late injection of a fuel charge. Problems have also been encountered in providing for adequate atomization of an injected fuel without destroying containment of the fuel in a stratified fuel-air mixture cloud.